ITEMS OF SOCIAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13355, 8 December 1906, Page 6 (Supplement)

ITEMS OF SOCIAL NEWS.

-v "*;■■■ ■'■*'' ■ ,-' ■"'" " ■"""*■ . ■. "-." * - l r 'W. :i: - : .:- .■■•'■:■■ ■.-:' '..;'■'■.': ■ .' ■ [from the SOCIETY PAPERS.] , • . .--.)■■■■ Is the seventies. His Majesty, used to.be, a lirst-rato croquet player, but for many years ; "'!< lie : never touched a mallet. Then one day, ■ ''while spending an afternoon at Roehainpton as the guest of Consuelo Duchess .'of Manchester, the sight of a well-kept cro- ' quet lawn revived his ,love of the game., -'•Come, duchess," said he, taking up a mallet, "I will play you.'' An "exciting game ensued. " Since then His Majesty has play- ;/; cd croquet so often that he has regained his '.'■ former. skill,. and when he went to Marien- * bad . a handsome' croquet set formed part ••"-■ of his luggage. , '

—■ m Prince Luigi. Duke of the Abruzzi, and cousin of the"" King of Italy, has presented ? Dr. Aubrey I). Y. Hodges, of Kuebworth, Herts, with a gold watch, for his services j to his chief, staff, who was stricken with while- travelling with the Prince in "-' Uganda: Dr. Hodges is making exhaustive ."■ investigations into" the disease known' as 'the sleeping sickness in East Africa, and tio . came-in contact with the Prince. The .- ..watch is the. oik the Prince himself wore, . sod fiis name, is enamelled on it. »«n*.' ««ti»» - x t •■■ ■** ■ ■ "••''" <' '■ ;-"■'*■: -■■" :'*•-..:* \.*t--' w. -~v .. .: v . -.-:. -- --" - . i : »-.*■■ . ■■■:'■ . ■ " , . - - c ." .- "-- '■". '; . * ' ; At no European Court is economy more ..trictly- practised than; at that of Berlin. '" Indeed.' the -Kaiser prevents any unnecessary .expenditure in a manner which is probably unique. : Many an ordinary ; gentleman at a- first-class London hotel lives more ' expensively ' than the Emperor William 11. -'His Majesty requires the Palace Comptrol- :" ler '' to provide ; daily a certain number of '--dishes for; a stipulated sum of money, this ■.' J sum being ; .what the Emperor considers to - be all that need be spent for himself and S his family, on the necessary but very carnal -- pleasures' of • the table. : ■.'"-"■ .'-'"" ••■-•• ■■ ■■ • ■}fk v , ■ .;■-•,.•*:•"-" . -'x/- - .."'-•■ ;■■■■■' ■■•<-i, -v- v -|- ~ —"—' '•-■-■"''.; ' ' ' •- There 'are a great-many society, women ."* who': are." excellent 1 shots, and, though the .' King has lately, expressed his decided ob'•lection to being accompanied ;by ladies at t*a'nya"drive" where ,he may be present, his. daughter, the Queen of •, Norway, is % one of them. As a child -'she.used to practise daily at a target, and found as much . pleasure in shooting (though not in killing, ' be it noted) as her eldest-sister has always 'found "in fishing. The Prince of Wales obv " jects quite >as mueli, as the; King ■to ladies •taking part in shoots, and, so it is, whisperS ed, they have every ; reason to do so, for : 'hough many ladies shoot well ; there are " many more who, if they touch a bird at all, I more often maim ' it than, kill it outright. % In consequence of royal .disapproval,,, no doubt, various ladies who hitherto have been famous among their sex for the " bags they made, have not once gone out with the "uns this season, but have been content to join the men at lunch with the other ladies.

• "*—"T^: — •. ..■ ■.•..'.., Lady Henry Somerset, the founder of the • industrial farm; colony for,; inebriate women ' at Duxhurst,. Surrey, and the - president of the British Women's Temperance; : Associa- - ron, is an i eloquent * platform speaker, : a ' clever writer, and, were she less engaged m '"" philanthropy, she might have made a name in art' or ' literature, for both of which; she has talent. She has histrionic abilities, too, as the following little story will show, which is true, .' though ~ one ; ; would ; never suspect the dignified Lady Henry Somerset of . being capable of a practical joke. - On " one occasion she 4 and her cousin, Lady Dudley, visited. Eastnor Castle; (her own place) ' in the guise- of French tourists and \ went all" • over the- house without her ■■identity bein" discovered :by servants. Lady Henry i was heavily veiled and' used a lorgnette, and she and her companion' spoke French. She signed her name in the visitors' book '■'Duchease de Montinerenci," and gave the housekeeper a half-sovereign for; acting as show-woman; but she "appeared so little : impressed by what she had seen. that the woman . was annoyed, : and in telling ? Lady " Henry afterwards about the foreign visitors expressed : the opinion that* the Duchesse de "lontmefenci swas ',,■&-. "disagreeable ?■' creature." Lady Henry Somerset, eldest daughter of the Earl arid Countess Soniers, made. ■'■'• lifer first appearance at Court when she was bout seven years old. She was taken to Buckingham 'Palace sby : .;' her parents, and : Queen Victoria; noticing the ; pretty :little maid ; dressed? in white tulle frock with real daisies fastened to it, ' said: "So. this ,is little -Isabel." •'" "Lady Isabel," v corrected • the mite, with : a■; toss of her head. - Nine - years later : when Lady-Henry was presented to,, her, Sovereign as a grown-up - girl "she again' wore a white dress with natural flowers. '" The Queen bent to kiss her fresh young cheeks, as was her.custom with the daughters of peers; and: said with a smile, . "Daisies V; again. Lady .Isabel''" She f had remembered with amusement all those years the incident ; above recorded. .

. , The. new Lord Mayor of London is an exceedingly popular member of society, and for many years ;*his benevolence has made him known as the " children's alderman." On Lord Mayor's Day, atrd-orr-ali; occasions when grand*"sights are to be seen" on Ludgate Hill. Sir William fills the windows of his well-known carpet shop with poor cripple children, selected by the Rag*tw|ged"' School Union. And when Christmas comes these 'children and all the other poor . little London'cripples are gladdened by ; the kindness of Sir .William. Everyone has heard of -J the - crippled children's, hamper fund?'-Which Sir "William . lias' kept"" going , for the last. 13 years. The object is to send -a hamper of -'Christmas "fare to every poor crippled child 'in London ; who is; unable to . go to the vearlv children's banquet at the " / Guildhall, and "to a - the King • arid the Prince -" of Wales' are * annual ::: subscribers. ' About. £2500 is' needed ; every year for the ."'■■. cripples' hampers, and those people who like to help in the good work 'should send '. their 'subscriptions to Sir William Treloar, V-" 69,' Ludgate Hill, E.G., as early as pos"^sible. : ?' Sir William Treloar stands six feet ■';%• two in his socks,- arid when he was knighted by Queen Victoria Her Majesty was "SO -'•:■ much ; impressed by his height that she ': uiterwaras inquired through a- Lord-in-S'..'Waiting, what was.his, exact measurement. ">' An amusing'. story is told of the same knighting. Sir William's wife, the new ;' Lady Mayoress/, was then travelling towards .Bournemouth; and, so it is believed, 'h? actually became Lady Treloar somewhere .;; about . Basingstoke. At any rate this tele-"- ;';.'•' gram was awaiting her arrival at Bournemouth: ''Operation i successfully form- ' ed; ■.. both doing ' well." ■" Both" meant Sir William and his "brother. sheriff, who was ! SM-knighted with him. " / ; '•:, - - The new Lord, Mayor was born on Ludspans - the foot of the hill. The carpet acquired for the railway ;bridge, that now > spans me \foot of the hill?- The carpet bu«ness» out of which he has made his ■■'■:.; money, was started in the year of his birth, 1843, by his father. What, therefore, Ludjj'ile Hill does not know about Sir William is'not worth knowing, and the same per--1 haps may be said regarding Sir William's knowledge of Ludgate Hill. What he. has to tell about his birthplace and business is embodied in a book entitled "Ludgate ■' Hill,' Past and Present," in which he scouts the idea that the place - owes' its name to the mythical King Lud. The new Lady. Mayoress, nee Mis 6 Annie Blake, is a; daughter of Mr. George Blake, ' und her.marriage' to \ Sir William Treloar took place 41 years ago. She has recently hid a serious illness, but the tracing air of Margate has gone -far to restore her to health. Good health is essential if the position of Lady Mayoress is to be enjoyed, . for the post, :is no sinecure, considering all the entertaining which.'has to be done at : ■',-.,me Mansion House. Lady Treloar, while -rejoicing in her husbands honours, will tiiiely, have; some regrets when she takes ,;■•- up her "abode in the somewhat gloomy Mansion House,, for she and Sir William Tieloar have a delightfully sunny house at Beulah Hill, near the Crystal Palace. It . stands so high that its foundations are on a . .le%ol<with the ball of' St. Paul's Cathedral, mid it was built by Sims Reeves, who lived m is for\sQ~years:;;"""/-" * , ■-,-.". s. -.!--.'■: ~< ■■ '- ■.■".:■. . -....■ ...'•■ ■:.-.-. ....■■' -